Life as dogs. And life in general.

August 07, 2008

And The Brownie Goes To ...

Sweeney plates up bliss: a Katharine Hepburn brownie with the movie book "Screwball" by Ed Sikov, on the side. Got milk?

Great story:

Earlier this week we made a batch of brownies in the test kitchen of Mr. Doodle's Dog.

These were stellar, Katharine Hepburn Brownies. We'd noticed Dana Bowen's article, "Brownie Points" and this recipe in the latest issue of the food magazine, Saveur.The genius behind the brownies? Besides Miss Hepburn? They're mixed in a pot, over the stove, and they're intensely chocolate and delicious.Need you guess why people came to her dinners?

We wrote about the brownies and then sat back and watched them disappear.Sweeney nabbed a few and our food critic, Orson Owelles flew around the kitchen in ecstasy. We never did get his reaction because his beak was always full.Our post hadn't been up that long when we received an e-mail from Ann Nyberg of the soon-to-open Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theater in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.We're not kidding. There was nothing in the brownies except Miss Hepburn's particular form of chocolate genius.Ms. Nyberg asked if she might link our brownie tale to her blog at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theater.Our reply: could she ever.So that's how a food magazine, a wire fox terrier, a legendary actress and a pot of chocolate brownies crossed paths. You can see our small comet passing through Miss Hepburn's orbit here.There's more to the story ...Our Doggie Dad took Sam on a road trip to visit his grandmother. Naturally, they took a fresh batch of these brownies. When Sam's grandmother heard about the recipe, and the Miss Hepburn connection, she revealed a story of her own.As a teenager, she and a friend had met Katharine Hepburn and given her flowers. They'd read about Miss Hepburn taking a train through their small southern town and they'd gone to meet her train and deliver their well wishes and bouquet. She said Miss Hepburn was very appreciative of the flowers and, no surprise, very beautiful. This would have been around 1937.Time does fly, but some things don't change. A good brownie can always bring people together. It's the simple pleasures that bring the most delight, and the smart cookies who know how to bake the best brownies.